The Earth Artists
by Syzeria
Summary: "Hey, Toph? I was thinking about what you said, about you not knowing what our faces look like. I was wondering if you'd like to find out."


For Tokka and Kataang shippers. Loosely inspired by Tangled and a spin-off of the season two episode, Tales of Ba Sing Se. That episode was one of my absolute favorites! In case you don't remember, Aang makes a zoo, Katara and Toph have a bonding session, Zuko goes out for once, Sokka makes weird haikus and Iroh celebrates his son's birthday. I'll never forget the first time I saw the episode. :')

Hope you like it!

* * *

><p><strong>: The Earth Artists :<strong>  
>By Syzeria<p>

Their high-class house was illuminated by twilight pouring in from the open window. Somebody passing by their house must have been carrying (even perhaps wearing) an entire barrel of perfume. The overwhelming aroma seeped into the space around Katara and Toph and left them both in a sneezing fit. After a painful moment, the scent subsided and the girls straightened themselves on the fluffy floor cushions in the main room. They lapsed into a moment of silence as Toph had nothing to say, while Katara was mulling over an idea she had for some time.

"... Hey, Toph?" Katara asked tentatively, picking at a loose thread on her skirt.

"Yeah?" The blind bandit kept her expressionless gaze on the floor.

"I was thinking ... about what you said earlier after the spa. You know, about you not knowing what our faces look like––and I was wondering if you'd like to find out."

Toph froze in her seat and Katara was biting her lip until Toph blew the hair up and away from her face. "How does that work?"

Katara beamed. "Well, I saw these two guys by the market stalls. They were earth-bending landscapes and even standing models of the city! What surprised me the most was that they were so beautiful and it was done so quickly. Then, that got me thinking: what if they drew our faces on the ground? You'd be able to see what we look like!" Her voice had risen to a squeak in her excitement. Again, Toph didn't move. Katara's moment of bliss died slowly and she sighed. Her eyes lit up again when Toph slowly opened her mouth to speak, and Aang walked in breezily into the house.

"Hey guys, what's happening?" Aang stretched his back as he approached them. "I've only been seeing you at dawn and dusk lately!" He dropped down to sit and threw his bald head backward onto a green cushion.

"Katara and I went on that girl's day out," Toph said. Katara grinned secretly, noticing lightly that the blind bandit was making an effort to keep a flat, careless tone.

"It was rather interesting," Katara elaborated airily. "At the spa, they managed to half-scrub Toph's dirty feet until she kicked the woman across the room and into a wall!"

Aang raised an eyebrow and Toph smirked.

"What did _you_ do, Aang?" The Waterbender asked.

"I paid a visit to the zoo I made last week, looked around for Appa, thought about ways to find Appa faster ..." Aang's voice died down and he fell into a brief moment of silence. "Have you guys seen the zoo yet?" He wondered abruptly, all signs of sadness gone.

_That kid can bounce back fast,_ Toph remarked and shrugged. "Sorry, Twinkle Toes, we forgot. But we'll visit tomorrow, if that makes you feel any better."

Aang grinned widely. "Sure does! The animals are really happy now, and people seem a bit more connected with their city."

"I find that hard to believe. I still think Ba Sing Se is the most pompous place ever," Toph spat.

"I'm not saying I don't agree," Aang replied with a yawn. Suddenly, he was snoring on the floor and Katara stifled a yawn.

"Sokka should be back soon from his alone-time," noted Katara. She turned to Toph. "You think about what I said, and I'll see you in the morning." She wrapped Aang's arm around her shoulder and carefully dragged him to his room. Aang's head was low and he was mumbling in his half-disturbed slumber.

_She's so caring,_ thought Toph._ Maybe it wouldn't be so weird to see their faces._ A thought crash landed and Toph frowned in slight fear. _What if they're ugly?_

"Well, not Katara," she muttered to herself, "and Sokka might just have more than his comedy act going for him. ... But Aang's bald head might not look as pretty as it sounds." Toph grinned at the thought and came to a decision. She walked up to Katara's door and knocked. Her friend opened the door with a tired look in her eyes. Katara had efficiently changed into her nightgown.

"I thought about what you said, and I think it'll be interesting to see," Toph said with a slight grin. She couldn't see, but Toph was sure Katara was smiling.

"That's great, Toph! Tomorrow, we'll go find those guys. We can even ask them to draw you Momo!" With a giggle, Katara bid the girl goodnight and closed her door again. Stomach in a slight knot, Toph traveled to her own room and fell asleep slowly. Before her mind could rest, it was constantly imagining their faces, but it didn't have anything to start with. Her head was particularly unaware of what a nose looked like.

XxXxXxXxX

"Rise and shine, Toph!" Aang's Rooster Duck call from outside Toph's room woke her with a start. Lying on her back lazily, the bender bent one knee with the sole of her foot on the ground, and stomped. There was a minor tremor in the earth, and Aang's sore cry tore through the house.

Satisfied, Toph rose with a smirk. She skipped the arduous process of fully preparing herself for the day––she had wiped away the makeup last night before Aang came back, yet her skin still felt spotless and her hair was at least tame. She slipped into her usual clothes and slid the door open. When Toph entered the main room, everyone was waiting for her. Aang was rubbing his rear despondently, and shot a lethal glance in Toph's direction. The Earthbender pretended to not have noticed.

"Can we go now?" Sokka's voice was slightly muffled by the food half-down his throat. Toph dumped an entire bowl of rice into her mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed. The food going down made her throat throb and her stomach argue, but she had made an impression. Sokka looked sidelong at her empty bowl and quietly slid his bowl off the table and placed it in his lap. "Where are we going?" He asked as he covered his bowl with his shirt.

"I'm going to be cured of my blindness," said Toph with a careless shrug. Sokka's eyebrow twitched incredulously and Aang cocked his head to the side. Even Momo raised his eyes from the window sill.

"What?" They said together (Momo uttering more of a shrill murmur).

Katara smiled. "I saw these two men making art with Earthbending yesterday on the streets. They're going to make portraits of us for Toph!"

"Oh ... Why, exactly, are we doing this?" Speculated Sokka insensitively.

"Because, Platypus Bear, I want to prove to Toph that you're ugly. She doesn't believe me. In fact, she thinks you're really––"

"What?" cried Toph with wide eyes, quickly interrupting Katara. "I never said anything!" She felt vibrations coming from Aang's figure that mimicked laughter. Her hands slid off the table and she sat back down on her cushion.

"Calm down, Toph," Aang said between chuckles. "Katara was just kidding!"

Toph glared at Katara_. _"Well, I think 'Platypus Bear' is pretty accurate."_  
><em>

The 'Platypus Bear' shrugged as he stood. "Whatever you say. Many ladies in the city would disagree," he said nostalgically, wiping his shoulder coldly. "C'mon, let's go."

Together, they marched out of the house and into the streets. As their conversations carried, they trekked across the upper class level of the city down to the middle class. Sokka began complaining about his feet when they came across the men Katara had been referring to, seated against the pale brick wall of a large restaurant around the corner. They sat before what looked like a wide canvas of dirt. Old bricks were either pulled away or broken to allow an uneven expanse of fresh dirt.

"Why hello there, kids," said one kind-eyed man with dirt clinging to his white beard. "Care to see some art this early morning? My name is Don."

"And I'm Baichi. What'll ya have?" A younger man beamed with a green cloth wrapped sloppily around his head. His teeth were slightly crooked and his grin was a bit overwhelming.

"We were wondering if you could ... how do you say it, 'draw' our faces in the ground?" Katara gestured towards everyone but Toph.

"What? You want us to make your faces in dirt? It doesn't last, you know, with the sheer number of customers we have ..." Baichi looked around the deserted road and cleared his throat. "This girl can't even see!" Baichi smirked with triumph, pointing at the Toph, and the bearded artist shoved him sternly.

"They will get what they wish, son. We don't 'draw,' though. We Earthbend so that our art can be three-dimensional." Toph beamed at the man's words and he inclined his head knowingly. "The earth is truly the best canvas ... So let's get down to it! Who wants to be drawn first?"

"How about the Avatar?" Toph suggested. Aang blushed and stepped forward, taking a seat before the artists.

"Really, I'm nothing special, Toph, I––"

"Just close your mouth and stand still for the guys. I'm curious to see how much of a girl you look," Toph grinned. Aang stuck out his tongue at the Toph and turned around to face the Earthbenders, noticing how the artists were staring at him as though he was a legendary spirit before them. Baichi's mouth remained slightly agape but Don recovered more swiftly by inclining his head respectably.

"It'll be my honor to draw the Avatar," the man said with and inclining of his head. He then got down on all fours. He examined Aang's face for a detailed moment and then began his process. Katara and Sokka watched admiringly as the man drew the contours of Aang's head perfectly.

"Just so you know Toph," Aang said lightly, "the artist is blowing up my head for show."

"Of _course_," Toph replied insincerely. Sokka laughed but stifled it when the younger artist pressed a deliberate finger to his lips.

Don went on to drawing Aang's large ears and eyes, round nose and carefree grin. The arrow appeared last, and the man abruptly stood. His shoulders became supremely stiff and he raised his hands above Aang's face in the dirt. The man then stomped his foot and there was a rumble in the ground beneath them. Aang's portrait transformed from flat to curved. The small nose was captured perfectly and there was a thin grin on the lively face. The line defining the Airbender tattoos was very fine and Toph laughed at the sight of Aang's big eyes and ears in her head.

"Wow, Twinkle Toes!" Toph cried with surprised. "You have some really big eyes." Toph knelt down and placed her hands on the ground near the portrait for a better look. Portrait Aang was smiling up at her, but it was the grin of a wise and genuinely happy soul. None of the weight of his destiny burdened his expression, and Toph smiled. _So this is what a face can look like ..._

She cleared her throat. "I'm glad I'm not the teacher of some ugly kid."

"Thanks Toph," said Aang with a cheeky grin. "That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"I'll leave that there for now," said the elder artist. "Who's next? Baichi will draw you this time."

"Ooh, I am!" Sokka stumbled forward but Katara cut him off.

"Ladies first," Katara chided. She sat down in front of the young adult before Sokka could, and Baichi drew Katara's slender face shape, deep eyes, hair and gentle smile. The man put more attention to individual strands of hair put back neatly.

"Make sure you get the hair loopies just right," Sokka reminded Baichi. The artist's brow creased, confused, and Sokka pointed at the loops brushing against Katara's forehead an dangling around the corners of her eyes. Baichi nodded slowly and continued. Soon he was pounding the ground brick with the sides of his fists and Katara's face rounded and rose slowly. The young man's eyes were alert and forever focused on the face he had drawn. Slowly, a brown-faced Katara was smiling upward at them.

"You guys are really good," Aand complimented as he gazed deeply at Katara's mirror image. "I will say though, it's nothing like the real thing." He coughed nervously and looked away, but Katara grinned at him.

Toph punched Katara in the shoulder playfully. "Told ya you were pretty." Inside, Toph fully understood why Aang's heartbeat would elevate whenever Katara came close. It was more than just the Waterbender's heart, and Toph grinned to herself.

"I suppose you're the last to be drawn," said the old man to Sokka, who nodded eagerly.

Sokka's longer face took two tries to be drawn accurately, but the rest was simple enough. Sokka opted to smiling with far too much charm and Katara rolled her eyes with a grin. The warrior's tail was a bit spiky for Sokka's liking, but it made him look more rebellious. Don clapped his hands together and brought down one heel against the dirt. Portrait Sokka suddenly shot up more quickly than Katara's did with Baichi technique, and Sokka's face was by far more detailed. Don sat back down and brushed the earth off his fingers with a pleased expression. "There, all done."

"Looking good Sokka," Aang commented as he poked his friend with his elbow gently. There was a pause after, and Sokka glanced upward at Toph.

"Well?" Sokka asked the blind girl apprehensively. She offered a weak shrug and a nonchalant "Meh."

Sokka gasped and placed a hand over his heart. "That hurts, Toph. Really hurts." He shook his head as he stood.

Everyone was quiet again but Toph didn't notice people gazing at her as she bit her lip while staring down at Portrait Sokka. More than that, and unknown to everyone around her, Toph was memorizing every detail. She was glad Don had drawn Sokka instead of Baichi, because the little details really brought the face to life. Aang crossed his arms and looked around awkwardly while Katara continued to stare at Toph a little sideways.

"Is that all, or does any other face cross your mind?" Don's voice broke Katara's focus.

"No, that's all for now," Katara replied with a smile.

"Thank you so much," Aand bowed. "You truly are great artists. You should try drawing on paper and selling your works."

"My, that's awful kind of ya," said the younger man.

With bows, the group gave the artists a couple of gold pieces and headed back to the upper city. The sun had risen to the near top of the sky, and the group felt rejuvenated despite the tingling heat from the sun. There was a gentle breeze passing through the city and Toph was being rather quiet.

"Did you like what you saw, Toph?" Katara asked pleasantly.

Her hair covered her face, but Toph's grin was fully visible. She punched Sokka and Aang on either side of her. They took it gratefully with cheeky grins.

"I'll admit, I'm quite impressed. At first, I had rather low expectations, but you guys somehow managed to prove me wrong!"

Aang laughed and wrapped his arms around Toph's and Katara's shoulders. Everyone else did the same except for Toph, who busied herself with accepting the odd group hug. Comfortably squished together, they all smiled peacefully within the protection of the city walls. For now, they could enjoy the company of each other and forget the future for a while.

"I could definitely do better," Toph announced to break the peace. Everyone looked at her and her grin became crooked. "Faces? Standing models of the city? Please," she waved her hand, "I could make the whole Earth with the sun and the moon with tiny stars floating around. Heck, I could duplicate you guys down to the last detail!"

Katara laughed and her eyes gleamed. "I'm sure you'd _love_ a second Sokka."

Aang snickered. "Yeah, twice the comedy and twice the charms."

Toph wasn't laughing though. It was because of the way Katara had spoken. _Does she think ...?_

Toph froze and, with Aang and Sokka's arms around her, the men of Team Avatar were forced back roughly. The Earthbender felt excitement from where Katara was standing, and Toph was able to imagine her friend's true face; grinning with a hint of secrecy. That secrecy made Toph's eyes bulge slightly––_Oh no, _Toph thought in shock.

"You'd better run," Aang suggested to Katara with a big smile. Unfortunately for Toph, this no laughing matter.

"You ... You take that back, Katara––" But the Waterbender as already speeding down the road. Toph quickly chased after her, while Sokka blankly stared after them. Aang suddenly took hold of Sokka's tunic and pulled him along. They just couldn't miss this.

"You're crazy!" Toph cried after Katara.

"You're just too dumb to think no one could ever figure it out!" The Waterbender looked over her shoulder and saw that her chaser was gaining on her. Katara turned her gaze forward and thought this was a pretty fun way to push her know-it-all knowledge out into the open with Toph. She just hoped this chase wouldn't too badly for her.

* * *

><p>A.N: Please review! Even if it's just a small comment, I'll really appreciate it. It was fun writing this and I hope it brought a smile or two for you :)<p> 


End file.
